s better armed than
their own, and make the restoration of a firm peace even desirable for
them. But this reacted on England in two ways. The government, which
was inclined for peace, fell into as bitter a quarrel as any that had
hitherto taken place with the national bodies politic, which either did
not recognise this necessity, or attributed the disasters incurred to
bad management. The man most trusted by the King fell a victim to the
public hate. But, besides this, there arose--awakened by these events
and in a certain analogy with what happened in France--the recollection
of the rights which had been set aside by the accession of the house of
Lancaster. Their representative, Richard Duke of York, had hitherto
kept quiet; for he was fully convinced that a right cannot perish
merely because it lies dormant. Cautiously and step by step, while
letting others run the first risk, he at last came forward openly with
his claim to the crown. Great was the astonishment of Henry VI, who as
far as his memory reached had been regarded as King, to find his right
to the highest dignity doubted and denied. But such was now the case.
The nation was split into two parties, one of which held fast to the
monarchy established by the Parliament, while the other wished to recur
to the principle of legitimate succession then violated. Not that
political conviction was the leading motive for their quarrel. First of
all we find that the opponents of the government--though themselves of
Parliamentary views--rallied round the banners of the hitherto
forgotten right of birth. Every man fought, less for the prince whose
device he bore, the red or the white rose, than for his own share in
the enjoyment of political power. On both sides there arose chiefs of
almost independent power, who clad their partisans in their own
colours, at whose call those partisans were ready any moment to take
arms: they appointed the sheriffs in the counties and were lords of the
land. But when blood had once been shed, no reconciliation of the
parties was possible. Ha, cried the victor to the man who begged for
mercy, thy father slew mine, thou must die by my hand. In vain did men
turn to the judges: for the statutes contradicted each other, and they
could no longer decide where the right lay. From the Parliaments no
solution of these questions could be expected; each served the
victorious party, whose summons it obeyed, and condemned its opponent.
As the resources o